Abby and Albus
by uncontained hybrid
Summary: Sometimes Abby thinks Albus is her best friend. Sometimes she's not sure whether they're even friends at all. But when she needs him, he's there for her.


Abigail Longbottom leaned over a table in the common room, head bent, focusing intently on her chess game, determined to beat her opponent, Albus Potter.

At fifteen years of age, she was one of the youngest in her year, having been born in late August. She didn't let this bother her at all, and she made up for her small stature and the fact that she wasn't particularly bright, with her nothing-gets-past-me attitude, and her aptitude for making rather strategic plans, hence her love of chess.

She sighed and brushed a blonde lock of hair behind her ear as Albus moved his piece.  
>"You shouldn't have done that, idiot," she giggled, as she moved her queen, who was declaring some victorious nonsense. "Checkmate," she declared triumphantly.<p>

Albus pressed his lips together in a gesture of frustration. "Abby, I swear, if I were a worse loser, I'd have thrown the board at you countless times before."

Abby arched an eyebrow. "Oh, so you've never gotten angry and thrown the chess pieces at anyone before?"

Albus blushed, and hurriedly admitted. "But we were little then."

Abby smiled. "You'd think you'd have learnt better than to challenge me to games of chess by now."

"Hey, I've won a couple of times," Albus retorted defensively.

"What, that time I was sick?"

"Nuh-uh, other times too!"

Abby just laughed. "Loser has to pack up the game," she grinned, before rushing out of her chair and up to the girls' dormitory.

* * *

><p>Abigail and Albus, Albus and Abigail. To many of their fellow Hogwarts students and teachers, the two were best friends, and had been ever since second year.<p>

But sometimes Abby had her doubts about her friendship with Albus. Was it really possible to have such a close friendship with someone, when most of it seemed to be based upon competition?

Abby sighed. She wished she had someone whom she could talk to about this, but she'd have to wait until the next time she saw her mother, which would be in a while, seeing as they had recently returned from their Christmas break.

* * *

><p>Fast forward to the beginning of their seventh year, and Abby still had no idea how she felt about Albus Potter. Maybe she had some closer friends now, but anytime she tried to talk to them about Albus, they simply teased her about lusting after him, and Abby had given up trying to ask them for advice in that regard.<p>

* * *

><p>Albus slid into the seat next to Abby at a table in the Gryffindor common room, pulling out a heavy textbook, an envelope of pictures, some ink, a quill, and a sheaf of parchment.<p>

Abby blinked. "What on earth is all of that for?"

"Herbology homework."

Abby shook her head. "So glad I dropped that subject."

Albus laughed. "Yeah, you'd rather cut off your arm with a hatchet than take NEWT Herbology. Are you sure you're not adopted?"

"Surely you've seen me around my mum. Or have you been hit by too many Bludgers to remember?"

"Actually, I think the fact that I've been hit by several Bludgers is precisely the reason that I see you around your mum so much," Albus responded cheekily.

Abby shrugged and changed the subject. "What do you think our 'War History' class will be like tomorrow?"

Albus inclined his head, thinking. "I have no idea. Teddy and James told me it was pretty intense, though."

"Yeah, but what's the point? Not like people don't know what happened."

"I think they do it partly to educate the Muggleborns."

"It comes a bit late after seven years of magical education, no?"

"Yeah, but telling eleven year olds about what happened is sort of traumatising to people who've just found out about a world that's not supposed to exist, don't you think?"

"Eh, I guess."

"Look, if you can fake being upset enough about it, because of your family or whatever, you can get out of it. Teddy got out of most of it. Although I don't think he was faking it." Albus hurriedly added.

Abby's eyes brightened a bit. "They just never asked him why he didn't show up?"

"No, he had to talk to Professor Latham, because he was his Head of House..." Albus trailed off at the end of his sentence.

"Well, I'd rather go to the class than try and fake being too upset about Frank and Alice Longbottom to my dad. I don't even know what really happened to them." Abby kicked the air in front of her. "You have no idea how lucky you are."

Albus grinned. "Yeah, lucky me, I get to attend an entire term's worth of classes lecturing me about my own dad." he responded dryly.

Abby winced. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine, except that you've been leading me astray, off the path of homework. Test me on Ancient Runes?" Albus held out his flashcards to Abby, who took them grudgingly.

* * *

><p>The following day, all of the seventh students streamed towards Professor Latham's History class – some eager, some reluctant, and all of them exhausted, it being the last class of the day.<p>

Once they were all seated, Professor Latham began to talk.

"Welcome to your War History class. Obviously, this is a sensitive area for many students, and we try to cover this topic from as much an academic perspective as possible. This being the first lesson, we're going to do a brief overview, before we go into more depth in the following lessons."

Several of the students nodded at him, and Professor Latham continued. "Right, we're going to start with a timeline of major events. Any ideas on what the first point on our timeline would be?"

Hands shot into the air. "Yes, Mr. Finnigan?"

"Erm, the birth of Tom Riddle?"

"Very good." Profesor Latham waved his wand at the board, and a timeline appeared.

The lesson went on, people calling out points for Professor Latham. It was relatively uneventful, aside from several heads swivelling to look over at Albus, who had settled down with a permanent glare on his face.

A Muggleborn girl in the front of the room raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Glass?"

"Sir, you've put the arrest of prominent Death Eaters after the murders of Lily and James Potter, but you haven't mentioned that most of them were there for torturing Alice and Frank Longbottom to the point of insanity."

Abby Longbottom raised her head slightly, before lowering it again when people turned to look at her. She swallowed hard, trying to stay calm, waiting until the end of the lesson.

After what seemed like an age, but what was really only a couple of minutes, the bell rang, and Professor Latham dismissed the class. Abby shot out the door like a bullet, glad to escape. She found an abandoned corner of the castle, where she sat down heavily, tears sliding down her face.

Albus followed her, doing his best to keep up with her. Eventually, he tracked her down, and crouched down next to her, hugging her as she cried.

"You okay?" he murmured gently.

"I can't believe they never told me," her voice hard with anger.

"Yeah, our parents kind of suck like that," Albus sighed.

Abby looked up at him. "You okay? People were kinda-"

"I'm fine. Just relieved I found you," he admitted.

Abby smiled slightly. "Thanks for coming after me."

Albus returned her smile. "You're welcome."

* * *

><p><em>AN: Written for HG, using the prompts hatchet, Frank Longbottom, relief, Ancient Runes and astray._

_Also gifted to the lovely Milly of Mein Liebling through GGE. Enjoy!_


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